


Loss Ficlet: 2:00 A.M.

by missclairebelle



Series: Loss (Ficlets) [13]
Category: Outlander & Related Fandoms, Outlander (TV), Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-17
Updated: 2018-03-17
Packaged: 2019-04-01 12:53:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13998753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missclairebelle/pseuds/missclairebelle
Summary: Based on a Tumblr prompt I received. ;)





	Loss Ficlet: 2:00 A.M.

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a Tumblr prompt I received. ;)

**Loss (Modern AU) (Ficlet)**

**2:00 A.M.**

I did not intend to proposition Jamie to live with me when I picked up the phone to call him at two in the morning early on a Saturday.  I was fresh off a boring night shift where I did more texting of my boyfriend than actual doctoring. Now home, I was mostly annoyed because I had fifty quid-worth of groceries purchased three days earlier at his flat and nothing, save some corn flakes and condiments, in my own. 

We had been texting only an hour and a half earlier and the late hour did not occur to me until he was picking up halfway through the second ring.

“What? Issumfin’ wrong?” Jamie’s words were sleep slurred and came out as more of a single, unbroken sound than actual words. His voice was at the same time sleepy and on high alert.  Although I was fully aware I had gotten off work at midnight, my internal clock was still getting used to making sure I didn’t assume others were on my same schedule.

“No, no. I’m sorry to worry and to wake you.  I just wanted to call to tell you that I _hate_ this.”  I braced the phone against my ear with my shoulder. I guess I was all in on calling him at this point.  He was up. 

“Huh? Wha time issat?”

I looked down at my wristwatch. “Two.”

“Yer alright?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Wha?”

“ _Yes._  I’m fine.”  Although I felt bad calling from the moment he picked up the phone, I felt even worse now hearing his incoherence.  Jamie rose like a live wire when something startled him awake, but when he woke from a dead sleep on his own he did it deliberately, sleep-creased, yawning, and childlike. I much preferred the latter. Now, I pictured him arching at the waist, his body primed to leap free of the tangled bedsheets, and his mind slowing now that he realized there was nothing wrong other than his girlfriend’s failure to appreciate the time of day.

“Tell me.  Whadya hate then, Sassenach?”

I was feeling bold now that he was fully awake. “I just got home to an empty apartment. My groceries are all at your place. I’m starving. My iPad charger is there.  My bed is empty.”

“Hmph. I’d hope yer bed’d be empty since I’m in my own bed all the way ‘cross the city.”

I smiled to myself, popping a handful of cornflakes into my mouth.

“What’re ye eatin’ if yer so hard up for food? I hear ye crunchin’ away over there.”

“Dry cereal,” I responded, bits falling out of my full mouth.  “You have my milk.”

“Actually I don’t have yer milk. I used the rest of it. I was goin’ to go get ye some fresh before ye come in the morning… like six hours from now... when humans are actually awake.”

I sniffled an acknowledgment to his plan and continued.  “I’ve been thinking, Jamie, and I think we should maybe consider a change.”

“Oh yeah?” I heard his sheets rustle as he shifted.  I pictured him arching like a great cat stretching, all muscle and sinew.  “What change do ye propose?”

“Neither of us can separately afford an apartment in the city center, but we could together. _And_ it’d significantly shorten both of our commutes. _And_ we are together four nights a week anyway.   _And_ it isn’t a good use of our money or time to ferry ourselves and our things back and forth every weekend. _And_ my lease is up in April and yours is up in March.”

I paused and chewed on my lower lip for a moment.  He was silent other than his even breathing.

“ _And_ I was thinking about you getting so angry with me the other day for using your razor. There’s a way to fix that, you know.”

“I’m listening _verra_ carefully to this proposal. I’d love to hear yer solution to the razor issue, Sassenach.”  His voice was normal now, though it had taken on the darkness of flirtation.

“Well, our razors could live together… with each other.  That way when I needed to shave my legs or-” 

“Or shave _whatever_.”

“Yes – shave _whatever_ –it would be there for me to use. It’s a good solution… for our razors. We could live with them.”

“I ken that ye just wanna have yer wicked way with me on some more weeknights. That’s the real reason yer proposin’ this, aye?”

“Something like that,” I laughed, gathering crumbs in a cupped hand.

“Yer so _practical_ , Claire.  I wouldna thought that there was a solution to ye _havin’_ to use my razor to shave yer body. I fear the only solution is, as ye said, to look for a flat together… for the mutual benefit of our razors.”

“I can’t believe I came up with this plan at two in the morning.  You’re dating a bona fide genius, Jamie.”  

“I _love_ a bona fide genius, Claire,” he corrected me. Despite the teasing tone, the feeling under the words was apparent.  They painted a band of glowing warmth from my neck to my cheeks. We had said those words to each other numerous times before, but it was still new enough that it sent an electric thrill through me to hear them.

“Yeah, I know. I love a bona fide genius, too.”

“Whossat, then?”

“Bastard.” I laughed and gave the bottom of the cereal box a fresh scrape with the tips of my fingers to gather the remaining bits of cereal.

 

“Ye sound hungry.  Get an Uber, c’mere to me. I have a perfect spot on yer side of the bed that I’ve been saving for ye. And I have food. I’ll feed ye toast and citrus fruit and get ye naked.”

 

I mumbled my assent to the plan through a mouthful of cereal.  “I’ll pack a bag and be there in a bit.”

 

“And Claire, ye can feel free to leave yer razor at yer place. I dinna care a bit about ye usin’ my razor.”


End file.
